Recent fights at one of Omaha’s premier downtown parks have police struggling for answers.

And the problems come as City Hall looks to spend some $10 million to hire more police.

All this at a time when law enforcement recruiting is down in Omaha and nationally.

(View our full video report above)

Omaha’s new and improved Gene Leahy downtown mall has been the scene of recent fights, several juveniles arrested, and police using pepper spray to break things up.

The fix? Well, police admit there are no easy answers.

Police Chief Todd Schmaderer (KFAB Radio): “Been a persistent problem for us. It's quite frankly a public safety issue right now, that we've got to get a handle on. I used to see it maybe in 2019 in the Old Market area, sometimes we would see it on the weekends up at Westroads. So what we have is just a lot of juveniles gathering unsupervised, and fights and weapons are part of this and it's causing a major safety issue for the Gene Leahy mall area.” 

Joe Jordan, NCN: “According to Chief Schmaderer there is a possible crowd control plan in the works. On the table right now a move that would require anyone under the age of 18 to be accompanied by an adult after eight o'clock at night.”

Problems downtown coming as top city officials, the Chief and Mayor Jean Stothert struggle to add more officers to a department running nearly 100 officers short of its allowed maximum. Stothert announcing this week a major pay bump proposal for new recruits, starting pay jumping from $51,000 to $71,000 a year.

Mayor Jean Stothert, Omaha (R): “Public safety is my top priority, and this is a crisis. Now our crime statistics haven't shown that we are down, Chief Schmaderer has done a tremendous job at moving the police officers around, how they handle calls. But it's going to get to the point that it starts to show, and I don't want that.”

Joe Jordan: “So, Mayor you're concerned the city could be less safe if this doesn't get fixed?”

Mayor Stothert: “Yes, absolutely.”

The city is scheduled to open the last two riverfront park updates next month.